Short History of my Relationship with Lenovo ThinkPad

For those, who have limited time, this post comes down to the following
statement: Lenovo Thinkpad X201 is
the best X-series Thinkpad created yet. What follows is my attempt at proving
this point with my merely anecdotal evidence. I’m funny like that. Here comes a
short story of my relationship with Lenovo Thinkpad X series.

In 2013 I’ve been working as a technical writer (more technical than a
writer actually) in a medium-sized web-slash-mobile startup and the Macbook,
they’d given me, failed and I decided to try something new. At that time I got
increasingly interested in Lenovo Thinkpad (yeah, it hadn’t been IBM for quite
a long time already). A couple of my colleagues had these X220
machines and they seemed pretty solid and professional, especially with all
kinds of Linux installed on them (I worked with a bunch of Python devs and
everybody used their favorite flavor of Linux). My transition from Macbook to
Thinkpad was also dictated by how Macbook wouldn’t let me use i3 WM (which I was completely sold on at the time) as the main WM.
So I went to my manager an he approved my order. The problem was I wasn’t
really familiar with modern ThinkPads then and ordered 14” model (thought I
could use all the extra screen space). I figured any Thinkpad will do, but it
was a mistake.

I got T431S
which was admittedly quite expensive at the time, but didn’t look like Thinkpad
at all. If anything it resembled plastic version of Macbook. It had a rather
disguising chiclet (island-type) keyboard, no LED indicators, thinner body and
as a result much less ports (although for the record I do understand S stands
for slim). The only thing it had in common with the previous generations of
Thinkpads was the clit, which was kinda useless without the additional row of
buttons, the device actually had no touchpad buttons at all as it mimicked the
Macbook-style platform touchpad (awful, awful trend, actually). The hardware
was of questionable quality and it gave me lots of headache on Linux (
especially WiFi) despite the ThinkPads traditionally being considered one of
the best laptops, when it comes to compatibility with Linux. I worked on this
machine until the company went under, and got used to it somehow, but it never
lived up to the image of Thinkpad I had in my head.

Even after that I didn’t give up on the Thinkpad series completely, though it
clearly went downhill with every subsequent model. My wife got herself X230 at
work and as I got to play with the device a bit, I had an impression that this
is not as bad as 431S, so as the line moved forward I decided to go in the
opposite direction. At that time I started working in a medium enterprise
infosec company and they had Thinkpads all over the place, and most of these
were the Thinkpads as I expected them to be from the day one. These were
X201 models. They aren’t as outdated as the earlier ones but they have all the
right features. Here is a short comparison between some of the latest X series
models:

The keyboard is backlit instead. Get your tongue out of Apple's ass, Lenovo!

Clit Buttons

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad is a platform with areas for clit buttons, which is kinda sad.*

* - to be fair Thinkpad X250 actually went back to having hardware
buttons, so X240 is not the whole new tendency, but rather disappointing
stumble.

So, to sum it up for X201:

There is the right number of LED indicators (X220 and X230 have less and
X240 seem to have none whatsoever) and they are mirrored on the back of the
machine, which is convenient, when the lid is closed.

The classic Thinkpad keyboard is just right for coding. No trendy chiclet
bullshit.

Ports and slots is the area, where the age of the machine shows the most. It
doesn’t have any USB 3.0 ports and Mini DisplayPort would be actually nice.
Still, it’s much better than X240.

There are two rows of buttons, one for clit mode and the other for the
touchpad. Although I work with clit most of the time, I find having an
additional bottom row rather convenient, yet I’d probably go with no
touchpad at all if that was an option.

Flashlight!

The only problem with X201 model for me is that it’s not available for sale
officially anymore (at least where I live), I even tried to buy out my office
X201, when leaving the company but they wouldn’t let me. So I found a place
that sold used ThinkPads for a reasonable price and bought one from there. This
machine is pure magic, and it doesn’t matter that it’s a bit outdated. It has
i3 CPU (which is still fair these days), up to 8GB RAM (which is usually
enough), extended 6 cell battery makes up for its age (easily gives me 5 or 4
hours of relaxed coding) and overall design hints at the times when the word
Thinkpad meant something more than “an ugly plastic Macbook knockoff”.
Without much exaggeration I can say, that in 12.5” X line of ThinkPads (at
least to me) the X201 model seems greatly superior to anything made before (due
to being relatively modern) or after. It’s still relevant today and has the
potential of being developer’s muse (fetishist talking) and workhorse.

An update is due: although I still think X201 is one of the best ThinkPad
X-series machines, after a heated Reddit discussion X220 seems to be an even
better model with all the advantages of X201 (except the amount of LEDs 😏),
plus newer hardware and better screen. You probably should consider that
machine if you are shopping for classic ThinkPads.